Spend much time sitting?

[Zaphod]

Apparently studies have shown that sitting is bad for you, even if you get a good amount of exercise each day. You might want to check out this NYTimes article: Stand Up While You Read This.

I couldn't find any way to make a standing desk in my room, but I switched to sitting on an exercise ball, which gets a lot of great testimonials for improving posture and ending back pain. Now a chair seems a little too...immobile.

[ginkgo]

There are some societies where people never sit since their rump would get dirty. So what do they do when they eat or go to the bathroom? They squat. I remember that in hotels in Japan the toilets were holes that you squated over. To squat you do not need a chair. This women told me that you can even put your feet on the toilet seat and squat and it works. Right now I am squatting on my seat to see how works while typing. Yes sitting is a bad position for the back and legs.

Now in China and India, some people would spend many hours in meditation. So in India, they do yoga to counter the bad effects of sitting. In China in the temples, the monks and preists meditated a lot and did martial arts to counter the effects of sitting. Also it had the side effect of making them very good at defending themselves. So these exercises counters the bad effects of sitting.

Here is Dr Oz's 7 minute modified yoga workout. Workout Videos | HealthCorps

[DominicJackson]

I sit constantly most of my life

[joelr]

It's not that clear but it's not saying sitting is directly bad, it's saying out of a large group of people who exercise, people who sit more are unhealthier than those who sit less.

More direct is to say out of those 2 groups those who sit more are fatter. So sitting isn't bad, you just have to regulate your calories accordingly.

In Boston I have to walk a tremendous amount, walk to the T so I can ride to a station within walking distance of the gym, walk to the general store, walk to CVS, walk to work, walk home from work, walk to the Zipcar, walk to the movies, restaurants, nightclubs, walk around showing apartments, walk to the 7-11, phew.

It makes your body achey sometimes and I still gain weight when not dieting.

On the other hand there are not a lot of really obese people at all. Even the older folks are slim. I lived a few doors down from the Cheers bar (which could be seen in the tv show intro but the actual show was filmed mostly in LA.) and was amazed at the roundness of all the tourists.

[Brutha]

You can sit with good posture and you can sit with bad posture. This study doesn't really show that sitting with good posture is still a problem.

[Dimond]

Sitting a lot has caused me a lot of health issues. I need to exercise 3-4 times as much to counteract the effects. Good thing I love to exercise, but that doesn't mean I've always done it enough. I try to stretch throughout the day which is easier to do often. When I go places where many are sitting or it's expected I'd want to sit (waiting for something, etc.), I'll often choose to stand. Walking is even better if I'm able to.

Sitting with good posture isn't good enough to do much of anything other than help your back a bit. It still needs to stretch & move.

[mindset]

Originally Posted by Dimond

Sitting with good posture isn't good enough to do much of anything other than help your back a bit. It still needs to stretch & move.

I definitely agree. My nerves tends to stiffen when I do sit a lot. Oftentimes I'd really stand up and do stretching at least every 2 hours every time I'm required to sit down for hours...

[goldberg]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Apparently studies have shown that sitting is bad for you, even if you get a good amount of exercise each day. You might want to check out this NYTimes article: Stand Up While You Read This.

I couldn't find any way to make a standing desk in my room, but I switched to sitting on an exercise ball, which gets a lot of great testimonials for improving posture and ending back pain. Now a chair seems a little too...immobile.

Is this causation or correlation though? I would say people who are not well would tend to sit more than people who are well, it is not the sitting that is what makes them unwell. Also clearly people who sit for longer are going to be less fit than people who are out and about all day, so the message here is do exercise. I don't think you are going to increase your life expectancy just by standing about, rather than sitting.

Living a long life is pretty basic, don't smoke, exercise and eat a balanced diet, oh yes and have the good fortune to have good genes.

[Zaphod]

But they looked at people who exercised equal amounts and those who shared other commonalities, and they still found that those who sat more were less healthy.

[Andrew Brunelle]

I've heard of this study and I totally agree. Sitting is one of the worst things you can do, and it should be strongly discouraged. I find it amazing, though, that even people who exercised an hour a day didn't get much benefit if they sat most of the rest of the day. That really surprised me. I've always wished I had a stand up desk, but after awhile, my legs would be tired from all the standing in one place. I would have to continually walk around in circles to get rid of leg stiffness, which in turn would actually burn calories. So it's not really that bad.

I wonder if that means sit-ups are bad.

[Dimond]

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

I wonder if that means sit-ups are bad.

I like doing standing crunches instead.

[joelr]

Thinking about it further, for about 6 months I literally sat all day with no exercise whatsoever and I was in incredibly bad shape. I mean like it was hard to standup and my joints were always stiff and sore and it hurt to get out of bed. BP went up to 165/110.

Compared to when I didn't exercise at all but did a ton of walking in the city and at work it was like night and day.

Now BP is 120/80, I exercise about 1 hr cardio most days and weights 3 days along with dieting and feel fine BUT I do sit 6 days a week for the rest of the day.

so sitting a lot + no exercise + bad diet = very bad

walking a lot + no exercise + fair diet = much much better

sitting a lot + regular workouts + good diet = no problem

walking a lot + regular workouts + good diet = really good but some problems with feeling overtrained

But anyone in the suburbs doesn't have to worry about over-walking. There have been times in the city where I had gotten so tired of walking around from morning until late night.
But again, once the diet started including lots of cheats the fat gain started regardless of walking around like a Nomad.

[LindseyRae]

Working a desk job for over 2 years now I have become very aware of the effects it has on my body. Mainly is the muscles stiffening and shortening in the front of my body and being overstretched and prone to injury on the backside. I found if I get up and stretch or walk around 5 min of every hour then I cant sit without pain, but only deep stretching (like yoga) and counteractive muscle development help long term. So I stretch out the shortened muscles and work out the lengthened muscles and I feel much mroe balanced.

Dont get me started on what it does to your emotions or your eyes!

[DavidPro]

Yeah, we can certainly do a lot of damage to our bodies by sitting for long periods of time. It's so hard on the back and legs, not to mention the shoulders and neck, if you slouch.

By the way, was anyone in this thread NOT sitting down when they wrote their post? :-)

[WildKat]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Apparently studies have shown that sitting is bad for you, even if you get a good amount of exercise each day. You might want to check out this NYTimes article: Stand Up While You Read This.

I couldn't find any way to make a standing desk in my room, but I switched to sitting on an exercise ball, which gets a lot of great testimonials for improving posture and ending back pain. Now a chair seems a little too...immobile.

Wow that makes me very uneasy... I sit or lay down 100% of the time.

My boyfriend has two computer monitors that can be adjusted in height and he sometimes puts his keyboard and mouse on books or other things to make them higher.

Is it possible for you to put your monitor on a milk crate type box? Or even one of those cheap plastic things with drawers you can buy but with the wheels taken off (and possibly a level of drawers or two). You can get them at most stores that sell closet type things. Maybe get a cheap wooden shelf (like a shoe rack or two). As long as it's solid and will hold the weight it should be fine.

I think the exercise ball is a good idea. At least that way you are engaging a lot of muscles that would otherwise not be used and you keep your blood circulation better than if you were sitting on a regular chair.

[WildKat]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

To squat you do not need a chair. This women told me that you can even put your feet on the toilet seat and squat and it works. Right now I am squatting on my seat to see how works while typing. Yes sitting is a bad position for the back and legs.

Now in China and India, some people would spend many hours in meditation. So in India, they do yoga to counter the bad effects of sitting. In China in the temples, the monks and preists meditated a lot and did martial arts to counter the effects of sitting. Also it had the side effect of making them very good at defending themselves. So these exercises counters the bad effects of sitting.

The interesting thing about squatting in these different areas is that they are two different positions.

In countries where people don't generally squat for long periods of time we tend to put out weight on the balls of our feet with our heels not touching the ground and out knees not fully up to our chest.

In the countries where people squat a lot during everyday life (while selling things, working, cooking etc.) they tend to squat so their feet are flat on the ground and their knees are more vertical and touching their chest. This position is a lot more stable and causes less wear and tear on the knee joints etc.

[Elrond]

Everything: It's bad for you.

[richardxthripp]

It's better to eat while sitting down, but it would be good to do more work standing up otherwise. Maybe you should all become cashiers.

[goldberg]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

But they looked at people who exercised equal amounts and those who shared other commonalities, and they still found that those who sat more were less healthy.

The people who were not sitting, must have jobs which require them to walk about maybe even carry stuff, so they were exercising more. Was this taken into account in the study?